The workshop was about expressing yourself and getting the
emotion out without caring about how others saw it. While I appreciate the
lesson, I can certainly still use some work. To tease some ideas out, the team
running the workshop asked us four different questions about how we were
feeling and such. My answer to a question I have since forgotten was “out of my
element” and “lost in a foreign land.”
My first attempt was to represent earth, wind, fire and water in simple
glyphs, but I couldn’t find any that I liked for fire and earth so I tried the
lost in a foreign land part of my answer. I decided a compass with a question
mark as the axis would suit my needs. Unfortunately, the idea never came to
fruition because I couldn’t manipulate the material we were using for the
stamps properly and so a lot of my design was lost. I also reversed everything
properly except for the question mark for the stamp, which was frustrating. In
the end, I wasn’t thrilled with my design and kicked myself for trying to add
too much detail even after I had started the exercise by telling myself to keep
it simple.
Mira and Eva had significantly more success however and
their designs turned out really cool. Mira had a dancing man over flames (I
don’t think he followed his answers to the questions) and Eva had a treble clef
and music notes.
A few other fun details about this day trip and an
explanation. The artist who ran the workshop came from Brno, the largest city
in Moravia, and looked eerily like my neighbor, Pavel. Maybe it’s just me, but
the bear and facial structure were just so similar. I tried to take a photo of
him when I realized who he reminded me of, but I never got the straight on picture
I was looking for. Now, for the explanation: the reason I felt so lost and out
of my element at the art workshop is not because I don’t know my way around an
art room, but because the workshop was held at one of Prague’s oldest mental
institutions. Apparently the institution hosts a fair for the public during
which they have live music, little stands of craft goods and workshops. Mira
conveniently forgot to tell me where the workshop was. Maybe if he had, I would
have figured out that we wouldn’t be spray-painting. Oh well, live and learn.
I probably would have thoroughly enjoyed the experience had
I not forgotten my sweatshirt at home or had some food in my stomach. Just one
or the other would have improved my demeanor significantly, but instead, by the
end of the workshop I was shivering and hungry, never a good combination for
me.
In the end though, I’ll look back on this Saturday with fond
memories. I explored Prague with Mira. Discovered a few things about myself. I
got a new roommate (Drew seems really nice and hopefully I’ll see him a bit
more than Red). I broke the fast with Devin over some very tasty and cheap Vietnamese
while watching the Badgers game. And I wrapped up the night with a little
welcome to Slezska get together for Drew before dancing the night away at a
club nearby.
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